“Your Highness, what should we do now?” Qian Jin asked anxiously.
“You’re asking me? Who the hell am I supposed
to ask?”
Li Wenxing looked utterly miserable. “The two
divine physicians are dead, we can’t control the plague, and now there’s this
deadly poison mist that kills everything it touches --- how am I supposed to
handle this? My head’s about to explode!”
“Your Highness, maybe we should retreat for
now? If the mist keeps spreading, this city will be doomed. Staying here will
only put your life in danger,” Qian Jin advised.
“Retreat? Retreat where? If Wugang City falls, then
so does my future!” Li Wenxing slumped in defeat.
Everyone knew this plague-containment
assignment was a test from the emperor.
If he performed well, he could very well be
chosen as heir to the throne.
If he failed, he could kiss that dream goodbye
forever.
He had come so far --- how could he accept
losing the crown now that it was almost in his grasp?
“Your Highness, as long as you’re alive,
there’s always hope. If you get caught in the poison mist and die, then it’s
all over,” Qian Jin pleaded earnestly.
“You’re right, but it’s not life or death just
yet. I think we still have time to turn this around.”
Li Wenxing stood up and began pacing back and
forth in the hall, muttering to himself, “What to do, what to do… Think of
something fast! There has to be a way to salvage this. There must be
something we can do!”
As he paced, a sudden idea struck him. “Quick!
Summon everyone under my command. The more brains we have, the better chance we
have of coming up with a solution!”
“At once, Your Highness!”
Qian Jin didn’t dare delay. He responded
immediately and turned to leave.
The prince was right --- until the very last
moment, they couldn’t give up hope. There might still be a way to fix this.
If all else failed, they could still escape
Wugang City in the end.
…
As the red mist spread through Wugang City…
Similar outbreaks occurred in Lincheng, where
Li Guanglong resided, and in Liyang City, where Li Juntang was stationed.
Li Juntang’s situation was much like Li
Wenxing’s --- the plague had almost been brought under control, it was no
longer spreading, and infected patients were receiving proper treatment.
Just as he thought the crisis had passed, the
red mist suddenly erupted.
Centered around the hospital housing the
patients, the red mist burst forth from within. Hundreds of people in the
facility were wiped out without exception.
Li Juntang’s entire medical team was
annihilated.
Upon hearing the news, Li Juntang was furious.
He mobilized all available firefighting forces to try and contain the rapidly
spreading mist.
But their efforts barely made a dent.
The mist spread in all directions, slipping
through every crack and crevice.
Despite their full efforts, the emergency teams
were largely ineffective.
Like Li Wenxing, Li Juntang now faced a grim
choice ---
Either keep trying to stop the mist from
spreading, or flee and save himself from this disaster.
But doing so would mean forfeiting any chance
at climbing the ranks.
Compared to Li Wenxing and Li Juntang, Li
Guanglong’s situation was even worse.
From the very beginning, he had failed to
contain the plague. He hadn’t even managed to suppress the news.
Most of Liyang City had descended into panic.
People were fleeing in all directions.
Things escalated to the point where people
began storming checkpoints by force.
Li Guanglong’s response was ruthlessly
authoritarian --- those who tried to break through the barricades were thrown
in prison. If anyone resisted or caused harm, they were executed on the spot.
Only through this kind of iron-fisted control
did he manage to barely keep order in the city.
But just as he caught his breath, the red mist
erupted in a densely populated area.
Within a single hour, the mist had already
caused over a thousand casualties.
The plague continued to spread --- and now,
with the addition of the mist…
Li Guanglong, a hardened military man, was
overwhelmed. He called in his advisors, but no one had any viable solutions.
The whole situation left him frantic and helpless.
In the end, all he could do was execute a few
corrupt officials to vent his frustration.
…
At that moment, in Pucheng’s Yangliu Village
---
Just after Margaret had her people dispose of
Pei Nan’s body, reports began flooding in about red mist outbreaks in other
cities.
“What? The red plague has erupted in Wugang,
Lincheng, and Liyang too? This is bad!”
When Margaret heard the news, she couldn’t help
but furrow her brows deeply.
She had thought Pei Nan’s mist explosion was an
isolated incident. She never expected all three major cities to suffer the same
fate.
From the looks of it, the remnants of the Bone
Cult had been planning this all along.
These inhuman cultists weren’t just targeting
Pucheng --- they were aiming to reduce the entire region to rubble.
“Boss, what now? With our current manpower,
even if we wanted to send reinforcements, we wouldn’t make it in time,” Su Lan
said, her head pounding.
Trouble after trouble --- just as they solved
the crisis in Pucheng, the other three cities plunged into chaos. There wasn’t
even time to catch their breath.
“Dustin… we can only rely on you now.”
Margaret looked to Dustin, her tone tinged with
a plea.
This kind of red mist wasn’t something ordinary
people could stop. Only someone like Dustin --- a land-bound immortal --- had
the power to turn the tide.
“As a citizen of Dragonmarsh, this is my duty.”
Dustin didn’t say much. He stepped forward
lightly.
In the blink of an eye, he soared into the sky and shot off like a meteor, disappearing from the two women’s sight almost instantly. - Ton
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